Paesano Italian restaurant closes after more than 15 years at Knox Ozone

Shoppers are calling for a revamp to Knox Ozone with longstanding tenants disappearing from the dining and entertainment precinct.

Knox's Paesano restaurant has suddenly closed down. Picture: Stuart Milligan

Shoppers are calling for a revamp to Knox Ozone with longstanding tenants disappearing from the dining and entertainment precinct.

Paesano, which opened in the early 2000s as one of Ozone’s original restaurants, suddenly closed earlier this month due to unforeseen circumstances.

The Italian restaurant was abandoned when Knox Leader visited on Tuesday, with gelato still sitting in ice cream tubs and drinks in fridges.

The sign on the front doors of Paesano restaurant in Knox Ozone.

The restaurant was one of three in the Paesano group, which also operates an international buffet in Springvale and Short Black Cafe in Camberwell.

A post on its website instructs customers to contact the Springvale buffet with any inquiries.

Boronia’s Rob, who didn’t give his surname, dined at Paesano over the years and said the restaurant installed a new woodfried pizza oven 18 months ago.

He believed its closure was a shame and the Ozone precinct needed a facelift.

“It’s just not an appealing area any more,” Rob said.

“It was good when it first opened but they haven’t paid any attention or updated it.

“There’s so many restaurants coming and going, in six months time you’d never know what’s going to be here,” he said.

Knox's Paesano restaurant has been abandoned since its sudden closure this month.

Wantirna South’s Adam, who didn’t give his surname, said he was surprised to see Paesano close and thought it had “great food and good service”.

He thought Knox Ozone was fine as it is but supported any renovations as it would offer more jobs for the local community.

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Paesano’s closure comes in a time of significant upheaval in Ozone and no sign of progress towards Westfield Knox’s long-planned redevelopment, first announced in 2014.

Another longstanding Ozone bar, Hush, closed recently with Tea Royale to open in its place.

The Khazana Indian restaurant has also moved to a bigger space opposite Knox Tavern.

It is unclear what will open in its space, but The Sporting Globe is set to open next door in the old home of the Dragon Boat restaurant in August.

A spokeswoman for Westfield Knox owners Scentre Group, who declined to be named, said it could not comment on Paesano’s future “at this time”.

The spokeswoman said “a raft of exciting new dining additions” would open soon including Sushi Jiro and The Sporting Globe.

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